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Stan Bowman says changes coming to Blackhawks after ‘unacceptable’ playoff exit

2013 NHL Draft

NEWARK, NJ - JUNE 30: Vice President and General Manager Stan Bowman of the Chicago Blackhawks speaks at the podium during the 2013 NHL Draft at the Prudential Center on June 30, 2013 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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After winning 50 games during the regular season and entering the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, the Chicago Blackhawks were one of the most popular picks to win the Stanley Cup. According to the oddsmakers at the start of the playoffs they were the favorites to win it all.

Not only did they fail to win the Stanley Cup, they failed to win a single game in the playoffs, getting swept out of the first-round by the Nashville Predators.

That result is not sitting well Blackhawks management.

General manager Stan Bowman met with the Chicago media on Saturday and did not paint a rosy picture of the Blackhawks’ postseason performance.

Bowman opened his media session with a blistering assessment of the postseason, using the world “unacceptable” three different times, and calling it a “complete failure” in his one minute and 57 second address.

“I am completely, completely disappointed, it is unacceptable to be where we are today,” said a visibly angry Bowman.

He continued: “I am frustrated, I am angry, this was a tough, tough loss for us all to take. Standing here April 22 is not the way we expected our season to end. It is a completely failure when you measure it against the expectations that we have for ourselves. We did not come even close to reaching the standard we have set over the years here. And that is unacceptable. Any successes that we did experience this year are completely overshadowed by the abrupt ending to our season. It is not close to good enough for anybody. I think it is times like now to take a look in the mirror and face facts. And when you do that you look at accountability and that starts with me. I need to be better. There is no doubt about it. I am going to take a look at all things and I can promise you I will be better. Top to bottom we need more. This is unacceptable to be where we are today. There will be change moving forward. Change comes in many different ways. So the specifics of how we are going to change things into next year are not really meant for this forum. But I can promise you we need to be better. Joel is our head coach. he will continue to be our head coach. Joel and I are going to work together to make sure this never happens again.”

This is the second year in a row the Blackhawks have been eliminated in the first-round.

The problem this time around was an offense that was completely shut down by the Nashville Predators, scoring just three goals in the four game series. One of those goals came in the final five minutes of their Game 4 season-ending loss when the team was already trailing the game 3-0 and the series was already all but over. That goal was scored by captain Jonathan Toews, his only goal of the series and only his second in his past 18 playoff games.

Here is the problem the Blackhawks are going to be facing this offseason when it comes to making changes: They are an extremely top-heavy team that is lacking the type of depth it had when it was winning Stanley Cups, while they have some massive contracts that are either going to be really difficult to move (no-move clauses or just contracts that other teams might not be able to take on), or are players they are not going to want to move.

It’s going to be interesting to see what sort of changes Bowman is going to be able to make or what direction he is going to go in. Because as long as that talent at the top of the lineup is still elite talent, the Blackhawks are going to remain a contender. But until they can replenish some of the depth that has been lost over the years as part of their recent salary cap purges it might not be enough to get back to where they want to be.